Mirror of Sparrows

Honing authenticity and creativity

If you managed to read past the title to this post – thanks! I realize it’s a less than straightforward concept.

As I write, I want my story to both be meaningful and fun.

Too much raw authenticity is a unpalatable (to me, at least), and people can only take so much of it. Like a rich food, the first few bites are manageable, but then you start to feel sick. Deep must not feel too deep, or you don’t want to read a whole novel of it.

So combine authenticity with creativity: creativity can make authenticity light, fun and easy. A hard subject can be viewed in a new light, in a story.

Yet, unwieldy creativity feels a bit like trying to herd dragonflies – it looks pretty but can fast becomes ridiculous. Every story can take a thousand different directions, and in a fantasy, you can really go crazy (!).

Thankfully, story structure has forced me to hone authenticity and creativity. It’s taking awhile, but I’m thankful for structure.

As I revise my outline, over and over again, I am able to continue to layer authenticity and creativity into my characters, scenes and world. It’s a challenging but inspiring endeavor.

Lessons learned:

Be super creative: come up with a bazillion wild and beautiful ideas.

Be super real: “be there” – what is really going on with the characters? What do people actually go through?

Follow proper story structure.

Combine the above until the story starts to feel settled, where the fantastic ideas compliment the vulnerable realism, and they work together, within the proper structure.